The NFIB’s Small Business Economic Trends survey for May showed that a record-high of 48% of small business owners reported unfilled job openings, a trend that continues for the fourth consecutive month. NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg said, “Small business owners are struggling at record levels trying to get workers back in open positions. Owners are offering higher wages to try to remedy the labor shortage problem. Ultimately, higher labor costs are being passed on to customers in higher selling prices.” The report states, “A net 34% of owners (seasonally adjusted) reported raising compensation, the highest level in the past 12 months. A net 22% of owners plan to raise compensation in the next three months, up two points from April.”

NFIB President and CEO Brad Close appeared on Fox Business (5/28) to discuss NFIB’s “survival campaign against Biden’s tax policies and mandates being negotiated this week with Republican lawmakers.” Close said, “The reason NFIB is launching our survival campaign for small businesses is we really want to protect them from these massive tax increases, new rules, mandates and regulations that are coming out of Washington. It’s amazing for small business owners to think that Washington believes that these new proposals won’t hurt small businesses, but the effect of them is going to be to grind to a halt a very fragile small business recovery.” Close noted that most NFIB members’ businesses are 5-10 employees and “having a one size fits all policy just doesn’t work for the little guys.” Close said that “under this proposal about a 33% increase in their taxes” will hit small businesses.

NFIB Chief Economist William Dunkelberg wrote in Forbes (5/27, Dunkelberg) that “Small employers are currently experiencing a severe staffing shortage,” and “industries that have been hit the hardest were transportation, manufacturing, and construction.” Dunkelberg added, “Industries that were impacted the least by staffing shortage were financial, insurance, and real estate (FIRE), wholesale, professional services, and agriculture.”

Fox Business (5/20, Conklin) reported NFIB “has launched a ‘survival campaign’ against President Biden’s new tax policies.” The organization “is highlighting concerns with the president’s proposed $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan and $1.8 trillion American Families Plan, which would be paid for by a slew of tax hikes affecting millions of U.S. households and small businesses.” NFIB President and CEO Brad Close was quoted saying, “Small businesses have been hammered by the pandemic and government-imposed shutdowns. They have spent the last year trying to help their employees, keep their doors open, and are ready to hire and grow. But just as the small business recovery is beginning to take hold, Washington wants to hit small businesses with massive tax increases and new mandates.”

Politico (5/16, Guida, Cadelago, Korecki) reported in an analysis that as the economy “spits out anxiety-inducing data on prices and jobs,” the Biden Administration is “struggling to find a clear message” to “explain to Americans where the country is headed.” Politico described “inconsistent messages” on the economy from the Administration that “have drawn angst from some political allies, who say it muddles the argument for their agenda.” To Politico, “Growing concern over the direction of the post-pandemic recovery and the administration’s response is opening up new lines of attack for Republicans, who see the early missteps as their best hope yet to help stall Biden’s tax-and-spend agenda and thwart Democrats in the 2022 midterms.”

The Wall Street Journal (6/6, Hilsenrath, Subscription Publication) reported in an analysis that while economic comparisons are typically made on a year-over-year basis, a year ago COVID was having a negative impact on the economy and corporate profits, which distorts such comparisons, so the current economy should be compared with two years ago. The Journal said the April consumer price index was up 4.5% from two years earlier, which indicates that inflation is trending somewhat higher, but not dramatically.

The Washington Post (5/28, Siegel, Van Dam) reported the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) on Friday revealed prices rose 3.6% in April “compared with a year ago, continuing a trend of rising inflation, although economic policymakers say the increases aren’t here to stay.” The Post adds the data “showed that prices rose 0.6 percent in the past month,” while “consumer spending fell 0.1 percent in April compared with March, after adjusting for inflation, as stimulus running through the economy began to slow down.”

The New York Times (5/28, Smialek) reported the 3.6% increase of the BEA’s personal consumption expenditure inflation measure was “the strongest reading in 13 years and more than the 3.5 percent gain that economists in a Bloomberg survey had expected.” The Times adds the BEA’s core price index, “which strips out volatile food and fuel prices, rose 3.1 percent in the year through April – the fastest pace since 1992,” while prices “rose 0.7 percent compared with the prior month, the biggest increase in two decades.”

The Hill (5/27, Jagoda) reported during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing Thursday, Treasury Secretary Yellen “said...that she expects the current higher inflation rates will last for another several months but will be temporary.” Yellen said, “My judgment right now is that the recent inflation that we have seen will be temporary. It’s not something that’s endemic. ... I expect it to last, however, for several more months, and to see high annual rates of inflation through the end of this year.”

New York Times (5/28, Tankersley) said President Biden on Friday proposed a $6 trillion budget that “bets on the power of government to propel workers, families and businesses to new heights of prosperity in a rapidly changing economy, by redistributing income and wealth from high earners and corporations to grow the middle class.” According to the Times, Biden’s inaugural budget request “sets the nation on a new and higher spending path, with total federal outlays rising to $8.2 trillion by 2031 and deficits running above $1.3 trillion throughout the next decade.” The Times says “that spending represents an attempt to expand the size and scope of federal engagement in Americans’ daily lives, including guaranteeing four more years of public education, reducing the costs of child care, granting paid leave for workers, sending monthly government payments to parents and paving the way for electric cars and trucks to take over the nation’s highways and cul-de-sacs.”

Bloomberg (5/15, Mohsin, Jacobs) reported that the President’s “top advisers detect a growing political challenge from the spike in inflation, even as they see little immediate peril to the economy from price increases that officials expect will last through the rest of the year.” The increase in prices as well as the “public’s perception of it could complicate the Democrats’ defense of their narrow majorities in the House and Senate in 2022.”

US Producer Prices Higher Than Expected, Raising Inflation Concerns. Bloomberg (5/13, Pickert) reported, “Prices paid to U.S. producers rose in April by more than forecast, adding to signs of a growing wave of inflationary pressure that’s extending to American consumers,” according to Labor Department data issued Thursday and showing that “the producer price index for final demand increased 0.6% from the prior month after a 1% gain in March.” Companies including Kimberly-Clark and Mondelez International have told consumers to expect increased inflation in coming months.

E! Entertainment (6/4, Dobin) reported that for Father’s Day, Mario Lopez “put together a gift guide via Amazon Launchpad, which is a platform that is devoted to helping new brands, entrepreneurs, and startups share their products.” Lopez said, “Amazon Launchpad has unique gifts that support small business owners and can be sent to loved ones, even if you’re far away.”

Phone Arena (6/2, Vasile) reported that in “an attempt to revitalize small businesses after nearly 15 months of COVID-19 pandemic, T-Mobile has just announced a new set of unconventional smartphone plans and a broadband internet solution aimed at small business owners.” As well as its “new 5G services, T-Mobile announced it has teamed up with Facebook to offer small businesses expert advice and resources to help sustain their digital marketing efforts.” Additionally, “qualified small businesses can get $200 of digital advertising on Facebook or Instagram, which means a potential reach of 25,000 new prospects, depending on how the campaign is designed.”

The Washington Post (5/28) reported the US Postal Service announced Friday it will be raising postage rates for “letters, magazines, and marketing missives as much as 6.9 percent this summer, sending the cost of a first-class stamp from 55 to 58 cents, as it leans into an expansive restructuring plan that codifies slower mail delivery and streamlines agency operations.” The higher rates are part of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s restructuring of the Postal Service “to erase a projected $160 billion in liabilities over the next decade.”

The AP (5/28, Khalil) reported the price changes “would take effect Aug. 29” if approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission. Over the past 10 years, “overall mail volume has dropped 28 percent, and first-class letters have declined by 47 percent, according to the agency.” Furthermore, USPS “also faces fierce competition in the package delivery business from FedEx, UPS and Amazon.”

Fortune (5/26) reported on Wednesday, PayPal announced “that it has invested another $50 million in Black and Latinx-led venture capital funds, doubling a commitment that it initiated last year.” While the company “did not say exactly how much each fund had received, it chose 11 funds that each have at least one managing partner from the Black and Latinx community and a track record of investing in founders with minority backgrounds.”

Meanwhile, CNBC (5/26, El-Bawab, Repko) spoke with a “number of business leaders and activists to get their reflections on the early progress that’s been made in creating more inclusion in the corporate world.” Connie Evans of the Association for Enterprise Opportunity noted that the organization “has collaborated with PayPal to help Black and Brown small business owners through grants and by providing them with business tools.” Evans said, “Companies are starting to take a more strategic approach that is driving increased access to resources and services for Black and Brown entrepreneurs. One of the ways that is happening is through efforts to increase synergy through market actors.”

The AP (5/25, Rosenberg) reported that many small businesses “are becoming repeat customers” of online banks and lending platforms after the hassle many had with traditional banks during the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The program “raised the profile of online lenders like PayPal and Square, says Karen Mills, who headed the SBA during the Obama administration and now is a research fellow at Harvard University.” Said Mills, “They were deeply committed to the success and future of the small business segment, so they leaned in.”

The New York Times (6/5, Cohen, Ember) reported 25 Republican-led states have “decided to halt some or all emergency benefits ahead of schedule,” and with the Labor Department on Friday revealing job growth “below expectations for the second month in a row, Republicans stepped up their argument that pandemic jobless relief is hindering the recovery.” The Times added that the expanded jobless assistance “doesn’t cost the states anything,” but “business owners and managers have argued that the income, which enabled people to pay rent and stock refrigerators when much of the economy shut down, is now dissuading them from applying for jobs.”

Insider (5/25, Winck, Reuter) reported small businesses across the US have been finding it difficult to find workers willing to work at the wages they’re offering, in large part because Amazon and other major corporations have begun offering higher wages. Amazon is also at the forefront of lobbying for a higher federal minimum wage, which would only compound small businesses’ difficulties.

CNN (5/29, Isidore) reported that even though “America’s truck driver shortage is driving pay higher,” there are not enough applicants to fill open positions. Actually, “the pay hikes are instead prompting many drivers to bounce from company to company” in search of better pay. Additionally, “the greatest shortage of truckers is in the segment known as truckload carriers, which move trailer-size shipments of freight long distances.” These drivers “are often on the road for weeks at a time, taking one load after another, driving the maximum hours allowed and sleeping in their trucks when they’re off.” This gives “companies like FedEx, UPS, Amazon and Walmart that can offer more regular routes and time at home have an edge beyond pay when competing for those drivers.”

The Washington Examiner (5/28, Halaschak) reported, “People began searching for jobs more in states that decided to opt out of the federal government’s expanded unemployment benefits, early research has found.” Employment website Indeed “found that search activity grew in the days after states made the announcement about ending the programs and increased across several sectors.” Heritage Foundation research fellow Joel Griffith is quoted saying, “The numbers that are coming out of small businesses — more than 40% of these independent-business owners, according to NFIB, are reporting that they cannot find enough people to staff the positions,” adding that unemployment benefits are having a “huge impact” on jobless claims and hiring.

Reuters (5/20, Mutikani) reported the Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of new claims for unemployment benefits “dropped further below 500,000 last week, but jobless rolls swelled in early May, which could temper expectations for an acceleration in employment growth this month.” Initial claims “fell 34,000 to a seasonally adjusted 444,000 for the week ended May 15. ... That was the lowest since mid-March 2020 and held claims below 500,000 for two straight weeks.”